By Andrés Uribe, Expedition PR
The term Mommy Blogger can tend to invoke thoughts of a mother balancing her newborn in one hand while switching off between preparing dinner and writing a new blog post on the topic of parenting with the other hand. While it is true that at some point most mommy bloggers might have started their blog in this fashion, today the term encompasses much more than these small time parenting blogs.
Today the title mommy blogger is given to a powerful and diverse group of women with children of all ages, who blog about a variety of different topics. While some mommy bloggers chronicle their daily lives, many of the more highly read blogs have a unique angle or focus and offer actionable advice on dealing with many different issues regarding parenting, or simply topics looked at through the lens of a parent. Larger sites such as Dooce.com, which receives over 100,000 daily visitors according to a New York Times article featuring the blog, even feature dedicated forums where visitors can introduce their own topics and seek advice from the community. And perhaps one of the biggest acknowledgements to the growth of the mommy blogger community was President Obama’s 2012 live video conference appearance at the BlogHer annual convention.
3 Ways to Reach the Mommy Blogger Community.
1. Hosting events geared toward mommy bloggers is a great way to alert this influential group about your product. Events can either be live, such as breakfast meet-and-greets, or online, such as Twitter parties. While live events allow you to actually meet the bloggers and have a more personal relationship, I really enjoy hosting Twitter parties because of the potential for reaching mommy bloggers from all across the country. When hosting a Twitter party for mommy bloggers, make sure to tell mommy bloggers who post public Twitter party calendars so that they can add your party to their calendar. And if you’re reading this and wondering what exactly a Twitter party is, here is a good place to get introduced to the concept.
2. Some mommy bloggers are in it for the freebies, so send them some! Lets face it, mostly everyone likes getting free stuff?…well mommy bloggers are no exception. While not all of them feature product reviews on their blogs, there are many who do. These are the ones you should target with your free product and in return they will generally thank you with a review. Some might charge you a small fee for the review and disclose that information on their site, but when you’re dealing with a mommy blogger with several thousand faithful followers, that review can go a long way. Bonus tip! If you have a few extra units on hand, send those over too. Some mommy bloggers host contests and giveaways on their site and will gladly feature your product in one of these promotions should you be willing to send over a few extra.
3. While the previous two tactics are great because they require minimal spend from your company, you probably aren’t going to be able to engage any of the most influential mommy bloggers with them. As mentioned, there are mommy bloggers out there who see 100,000+ daily visitors, and in turn take home ad earnings that rival the salaries of bankers on Wall Street. The best way to reach out to them and their followers is to pay for the exposure. These mommy bloggers sell a variety of different services, from the most basic ad placement on their blog, to personalized blog posts about your product or sponsored Twitter parties that their followers regularly attend. Check out their sites and see what best fits in with your communication plan.